Empire Of Dirt

Inside the culture of an artistically influential music community Britain is widely considered the cradle of independent music culture. Bands like Radiohead and Belle and Sebastian, which epitomize indie music's sounds and attitudes, have spawned worldwide fanbases. This in-depth study of the British independent music scene explores how the behavior of fans, artists, and music industry professionals produce a community with a specific aesthetic based on moral values. Author Wendy Fonarow, a scholar with years of experience in the various sectors of the indie music scene, examines the indie music "gig" as a ritual in which all participants are actively involved. This ritual allows participants to play with cultural norms regarding appropriate behavior, especially in the domains of sex and creativity. Her investigation uncovers the motivations of audience members when they first enter the community and how their positions change over time so that the gig functions for most members as a rite of passage. Empire of Dirt sheds new light on music, gender roles, emotion, subjectivity, embodiment, and authenticity.

For seven months, Manny Howard—a lifelong urbanite—woke up every morning and ventured into his eight-hundred-square-foot backyard to maintain the first farm in Flatbush, Brooklyn, in generations. His goal was simple: to subsist on what he could produce on this farm, and only this farm, for at least a month. The project came at a time in Manny’s life when he most needed it—even if his family, and especially his wife, seemingly did not. But a farmer’s life, he discovered—after a string of catastrophes, including a tornado, countless animal deaths (natural, accidental, and inflicted), and even a severed finger—is not an easy one. And it can be just as hard on those he shares it with. Manny’s James Beard Foundation Award–winning New York magazine cover story—the impetus for this project—began as an assessment of the locavore movement. We now think more about what we eat than ever before, buying organic for our health and local for the environment, often making those decisions into political statements in the process. My Empire of Dirt is a ground-level examination—trenchant, touching, and outrageous—of the cultural reflex to control one of the most elemental aspects of our lives: feeding ourselves. Unlike most foodies with a farm fetish, Manny didn’t put on overalls with much of a philosophy in mind, save a healthy dose of skepticism about some of the more doctrinaire tendencies of locavores. He did not set out to grow all of his own food because he thought it was the right thing to do or because he thought the rest of us should do the same. Rather, he did it because he was just crazy enough to want to find out how hard it would actually be to take on a challenge based on a radical interpretation of a trendy (if well-meaning) idea and see if he could rise to the occasion. A chronicle of the experiment that took slow-food to the extreme, My Empire of Dirt tells the story of one man’s struggle against environmental, familial, and agricultural chaos, and in the process asks us to consider what it really takes (and what it really means) to produce our own food. It’s one thing to know the farmer, it turns out—it’s another thing entirely to be the farmer. For most of us, farming is about food. For the farmer, and his family, it’s about work.

Praise for Philip C. Quaintrell's 'The Echoes Saga': 'For lovers of your classic Tolkien, this series has it all' - Alan Coleman - Amazon customer 'Best newcomer to the genre. Philip is up there with Feist and Sanderson'- Philip Spick - Amazon customer 300,000 COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE -- THE ECHOES OF FATE WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN. THE WORDS UTTERED A THOUSAND YEARS AGO WILL COME TO PASS, AND A NEW AGE WILL DAWN... War is set to ravage Illian. The elves sail from the east. The savage Darkakin rise from the south. Valanis, the dark elf, is finally free of his prison and eager to see his work finished. Only then will he be free of the gods who still haunt him. A new hope rises in The Red Mountains. There, the last remaining dragons have been discovered. Gideon and Galanör, human and elf, will have to work together if they are to convince Adriel, the last of the Dragorn order, to intervene in the coming war. Devoid of hope and unsure what road to take, Asher and his companions must decide what role they will play as the realm unravels into bloodshed. The only weapon known to rival Valanis' power is in a place the ranger has avoided for a long time, a place where, until now, neither man nor elf would dare to tread. Civil war has shattered the empire in The Arid Lands as the slaves make their stand against the highborns. But, while revolution brews, a greater threat looms. As a thunderous cacophony of steel and savagery marches through The Undying Mountains, who will stand before this army of death... EMPIRE OF DIRT CONTINUES THIS UNMISSABLE EPIC FANTASY SERIES. -- 'I read a lot of fantasy books and I can say that this is one of the best I have read'- B. Stewart - Amazon customer ''The Echoes Saga' demonstrates a simple commitment to the power of story'- Stephen Dudley - Amazon customer

As it self-destructs, the strategy of secularism (the idea that nations can be religiously neutral) is splitting between American exceptionalism and radical Islam. American exceptionalism, the belief that "America" is more than a nation, is folly. Radical Islam is obviously wrong as well, but Muslims at least own the nature of the current cultural conflict: You must follow somebody, whether it's Allah, the State, or Jesus Christ. This important and timely book is an analysis of the changing face of religion and politics and also an extended argument for Christian expression of faith in Jesus Christ. This does not mean a withdrawal from politics to our own communities and churches. Instead, we Christians must take what we have learned from the wreck of secularism and build a Christendom of the New Foundation: A network of nations bound together by a formal, public, civic acknowledgement of the lordship of Jesus Christ and the fundamental truth of the Apostles' Creed.

Dirt, soil, call it what you want—it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting book finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are—and have long been—using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations. A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, Dirt traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil—as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations.

Praise for Philip C. Quaintrell's 'The Echoes Saga': 'For lovers of your classic Tolkien, this series has it all' - Alan Coleman - Amazon customer 'Best newcomer to the genre. Philip is up there with Feist and Sanderson' - Philip Spick - Amazon customer 300,000 COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE -- THE ECHOES OF FATE, A PROPHECY UTTERED UNTO THE WORLD A THOUSAND YEARS AGO, CANNOT BE DENIED... Mankind has lorded over the land of Illian for a thousand years, building on the ruins left by the elves, as if it were their birthright. A thousand years is a long time for an immortal race to see the truth of things, a truth that has remained unsaid for a millennium - elves are superior. They are faster, stronger and connected to the magical realm in a way that man could never grasp. Illian should belong to them. Unaware of the shadow that looms in the east, the six kingdoms of man are fractured, unallied, and clawing at each other's gates for more power. This isn't just war set to ravage the land, but a slaughter - the world of man cannot hope to survive. Thrown into the heart of this war is a man known by many names; an Outlander of the wilds, an assassin, a ranger. Asher was born a thousand years ago, to a life he doesn't remember. Forty years of brutal training and killing for money has beaten the earliest years of his life away, leaving his ties to the oldest of evils a mystery to all... RISE OF THE RANGER LAUNCHES AN UNMISSABLE EPIC FANTASY SERIES. -- 'I read a lot of fantasy books and I can say that this is one of the best I have read' - B. Stewart - Amazon customer ''The Echoes Saga' demonstrates a simple commitment to the power of story' - Stephen Dudley - Amazon customer

Set in the near future, in a Paris devastated by revolution and disease, Empire of the Senseless is narrated by two terrorists and occasional lovers, Thivai, a pirate, and Abhor, part robot and part human. Together and apart, the two undertake an odyssey of carnage, a holocaust of the erotic. "An elegy for the world of our fathers," as Kathy Acker calls it, where the terrorists and the wretched of the earth are in command, marching down a road charted by Genet to a Marseillaise composed by Sade.

Praise for Philip C. Quaintrell's 'The Echoes Saga': 'For lovers of your classic Tolkien, this series has it all' - Alan Coleman - Amazon customer 'Best newcomer to the genre. Philip is up there with Feist and Sanderson'- Philip Spick - Amazon customer 300,000 COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE -- THERE IS NO WAR. THERE IS ONLY REBELLION. Alijah's reign sweeps from Erador to Ayda. Those who would stand against the king are few, their numbers cast across too many battlefields. Does hope lie in the east? Can the elves turn the tide and keep The Rebellion alive? The weight of Dhenaheim now rests on Doran's shoulders. Chained and imprisoned, the clans are shattered and spread across the realm. On the island of Qamnaran, they build to the heavens. In The Moonlit Plains, they dig down into the dark. Only the Heavybellys have the mettle to do what must be done. Astride the mighty Athis, Inara Galfrey fights for The Rebellion as both sword and shield. With blood and sweat she has kept Alijah's forces at bay, but Inara knows there is only one way to defeat her brother. Following this path, however, will take her far from the front lines and into lands long forgotten. After ten thousand years, the future that was foretold looms near. But Fate has one last hand to deal... LAST OF THE DRAGORN IS THE PENULTIMATE CHAPTER IN THIS UNMISSABLE EPIC FANTASY SERIES. -- 'I read a lot of fantasy books and I can say that this is one of the best I have read'- B. Stewart - Amazon customer ''The Echoes Saga' demonstrates a simple commitment to the power of story'- Stephen Dudley - Amazon customer